Saturday, April 04, 2020

This week I learned

This week I learned :

that ebullient newly-on-email almost-eight-year-olds, (ooh, hyphen overload!) no matter how bright and how literate, are not nearly as interested in emailing their grandmother as their grandmother is interested in emailing them;

that children being home-schooled can play as many as four April Fools day tricks in one day, including this:

that waking up at 3.30 a.m. to go to the loo means I either can't get back to sleep and thus have a miserable subsequent day, or I do go back to sleep and have nightmares. This has happened three times now, and I have no idea how to stop waking up at 3.30 a.m.;

that a nightmare where you think a giant bulldozer is knocking down your old house is probably due to your reading about the Israelis still bulldozing down Palestinians' houses even during the pandemic. What CAN one say about the Israeli government that does not involve cursing?

that this UK government is as duplicitous and incompetent as you thought it was going to be when it won the election;

that the Monsal Trail is still a soothing, calming and restorative place to cycle, no matter how dark the times;

that if you leave a note for your husband so he knows what an iceberg lettuce is (that unfortunately arrived in the veg box, and which he has said he will 'hoover up') you will come home from your bike ride and find this:

that the sun rises in spite of everything:

Everything is Going to be All Right

How should I not be glad to contemplate
the clouds clearing beyond the dormer window
and a high tide reflected on the ceiling?
There will be dying, there will be dying,
but there is no need to go into that.
The poems flow from the hand unbidden
and the hidden source is the watchful heart.
The sun rises in spite of everything
and the far cities are beautiful and bright.
I lie here in a riot of sunlight
watching the day break and the clouds flying.
Everything is going to be all right.

Derek Mahon

from New Collected Poems (2011) by kind permission of The Gallery Press


marmee said...

Always finding a bit of wonderful poetry here! Methinks those snarky little labels were well deserved!! Oh I do a 2 am wake up...started when I felt so strongly that all would be better if i could only have my french kids close by where I could actually physically see and touch them. Been doing some work on self this week🙄. Heard deepak chopra speak of not trying for the "positive" mind but rather the "quiet " mind.

Sue Hepworth said...

I like that idea - the quiet mind,
The thing is...I have had a quiet mind, but watching the news this week has brought in a dark current of anxiety underneath.

Re the have no idea of the extent of Dave’s ignorance about salad leaves.
He says he was trying to be funny and didn’t mean to be snarky. I am only laughing at it now, a day later.

Hey ho. Onward and upward.

Sue Hepworth said...

My brother just emailed to tell me that the answer is not to buy iceberg lettuce.
I do not choose it . It comes in the veg box, and you have no choice with a veg box. Bah.

marmee said...

Oh and to think once upon a time lettuce = iceberg! Yes the anxiety hovers close by. There you are moving into spring and here we are having the most glorious autumn. It feels strange at times to be so peaceful and aware of the loveliness of the season. I don't know sue, at present I try to not allow fear or anxiety to take proper hold. There is so little within my control , my poor country is really trying to do its best with what is available. No, nonsense! Better to laugh at silly labels and look at the sunset. That is just as real as the other!

Anonymous said...

“Don’t forget your towel” was my first thought as I chuckled and then sobered as I read on. ( On reflection Hitchhikers Guide is unlikely to have been your bedtime reading.) Love the labelling - acceptable giggling Well done Dave. And nightmares are no laughing matter - sorry. Neither is having a busy mind which is also keeping me awake in the small hours - or rather getting so absorbed in my distraction reading that suddenly the sun is rising. Going nocturnal (like our son) has its attractions but then how would I get the gardening done? #Sleepless in Stourbridge (Jenetta)

Sue Hepworth said...

Hi Jenetta,
Nice to hear from you.
Dave is a HUGE fan of Hitchhikers Guide. So is Isaac. I read it once and enjoyed it but have not returned, unlike the men in my life.

Isaac said...

The thing about emailing is that the kids haven't yet learned to type, so it is very slow going and rather frustrating: what you wanted to say has long gone by the time you've entered the first couple of words... each letter taking a second or two (or sometimes three) to find.

Both can write delicious paragraphs of thoughtful correspondence using speech-to-text on an iDevice; we need to let them get and respond to their email on one of those.